Shreveport senator proposes I-20 congressional district

Mar. 22, 2011

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BATON ROUGE — State Sen. Lydia Jackson is pushing a redistricting proposal that the majority of Louisiana's congressional delegation opposes.

Jackson's pitch would create a so-called "I-20 district," a roughly horizontal line from Shreveport to Monroe that would link most parishes parallel to the highway and Arkansas state line.

Incumbent signoff and veiled references to party politics drove much of Tuesday's discussion during a Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee meeting.

But Jackson, D-Shreveport, says she's not working to please other politicians. Her plan makes numerical sense considering Louisiana's weak population growth.

"Most importantly, it is responsive to the messages we heard as we listened to the citizens of this state," Jackson said.

State legislators are in special session to redraw political subdivisions, including shrinking Louisiana's seven congressional districts to six. Each region must have about 755,562 residents.

A competing map drawn by Sen. Bob Kostelka, R-Monroe, would leave north Louisiana's existing congressional districts largely intact. Two vertical blocks would stretch from the northern border but dip further than they do now into Acadiana.

That's what five of six Republican congressmen and Gov. Bobby Jindal say they want.

When Kostelka questioned whether Jackson had talked over ideas with the state's largely Republican leadership, she offered this: "I didn't know that was a requirement."

Kostelka countered: "It's not a requirement. It's a courtesy."

Jackson said she had talked with Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, because his district — where black voters outnumber white voters — is the state's only protected majority minority region.

Richmond on Tuesday joined four of Louisiana's Republican congressman at the state Capitol.

Rep. John Fleming, R-Minden, spoke against Jackson's plan.

Under it, he would lose all or part of six parishes in his existing district and pick up about eight now represented by Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman.

"It also breaks up our two bases," Fleming said in reference to Barksdale Air Force Base and Fort Polk Army Base.

During Shreveport's February stop on the Legislature's redistricting road show, several residents said they favored an I-20 district. Among those were Shreveport attorney Shante Wells.

"We have far more in common with Monroe than we do with McNeese," Wells said, referring to the university in Lake Charles.

No plans covered by the Senate on Tuesday would put Shreveport and Lake Charles in the same congressional district.

The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee is not scheduled to meet again until Thursday. Anything approved by the board would go before the full Senate.

The ongoing special legislative session is scheduled to last through April 13. Lines also will be reconfigured for the state House of Representatives and Senate, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Public Service Commission and, possibly, the Supreme Court and courts of appeal.